Like smoking a good
cigar, taking a
Saturday morning walk or finding a ten-spot in your pocket, the Stone City
Stragglers are one of life’s little pleasures.This sextet from Joliet, Illinois delivers simple country
songs stripped
of any of the glitz or schmaltz that is being churned out of
“Gnashville.”

Their second album “The Last Resort”
contains a dozen gems that mix traditional country heart, a hint of
rock n’
roll sneer, folksy pickin’ and playin’ and killer harmony vocals. Yet
make no
mistake about it - shock full of tales of lost love, broken bonds and
heartbreak - The Last Resort
is a blues record.

Dean Man’s Curve is no
Jan and Dean
sing-along; it is sparse tale of despair. “You know the blues when ya
got
‘em/deep down in your soul/one foot in the fire the other raking coal.”

Singing about a fractured
relationship with
your father is as common as beer cans around a bon-firefor Blink 182 and legions of other teen
angst bands.But the Stragglers are no
pseudo-punks and are able to offer an adult perspective. “Tell me mama,
what do
you see/am I the man you wanted me to be/or do you see too much of the
father
in me?”

The result is sure to be
one of the year’s
hidden Americana treasures.

Earl
Musick
has kicked around the Texas roots-music scene for more than two decades.Privateershowcases the variety of
music styles that Musick undoubtedly was exposed to during those two
decades as a session player.

Privateer
features sparse production and 13 acoustic-based songs that take you at
various
points from San Antone, Santa Cruz and Fort Worth.

The first two tracks, the
aforementioned San
Antone and Hell Bent & Happy sound like Honky-Tonk Heroes era
Waylon.Texas Moon swings, while Promise
Bound has a bouncy blues-meets-country feel.

The strongest tune Bye
I’m Gone,
also has the most get up and go and would make for a perfect single if
commercial country stations looked beyond the glitz and hype machines
of
Nashville.

All in all, Privateer shows enough
promise to make one look forward to more Musick.